The collective vote of the Congress was signaling towards Pedro Castillo’s removal from the presidency when he sought to overtake the government by drastic measures of dissolving the government and taking control of the country by force. He was taken to jail a few hours later.
His actions were taken as rebellious and the coup planned by him failed miserably. He fled the presidential palace after his failed attempt to render the constitutional order. His arrest came shortly after he was removed from presidency when the congress had reached the final decision.
He announced his intentions of dissolving the assemblies on television a day before after the congress had decided to dethrone him on charges of corruption.
The government leaders after this statement moved to place their resignations in bulks. The support of the courts and military was not given to Castillo. The national police saw the move unfit for the country and abstained to follow the orders keeping in view that the president would be removed somewhere between the next 16 hours.
The vice president of Peru, Dina Boluarte was sworn in as the new president making her the first top leader of the Peruvian government in history.
Castillo became the president on 28 July 2021, also known as the Peruvian Independence Day. His short period of presidency saw many misfit occasions and allegations of corruption against him while he shook the entire cabinet and installed modified ministers to safeguard himself against impeachment.
Nearly 5 months ago the allegations started to flood in against Castillo and his closest relatives felt the heat as his sister-in-law Yenifer Paredes was sent to jail for 30 months over corruption charges. She was not convicted of corruption but she was sent to jail until the investigation was finalized.
Castillo was subjected to six criminal allegations with one attempt of corruption by firing his interior minister at that time. His wife was also banned from travelling outside the country while the investigation was open.
The corruption charges go way back against Castillo even before he became president. The first two allegations were placed against him in 2016.
Castillo since he took office gradually replaced 80 ministers and gave charge to many criminals who were under investigations of corruption and murder as well.
The congress had been attempting to impeach Castillo for a long time. Before this he had been threatened with two attempts of impeachment one of which failed last month. He saw finality of the decision of congress this time and tried to seize control by unconstitutional means.
The governments of the United States and New Mexico showed opposition to Castillo’s indulgence of mocking the democratic way of government and urged him to reverse his decision.
The final blow came when he ordered the curfew of the prosecutor’s office which was handling a corruption case against him.
